What would you say...

Engine block envy.

The need to buy tools. Even if you don't use them.

Throwing up cheap beer as a bonding tool (women use merlot).

The insane need for some men to do the dreaded "comb-over" (not fooling ANYONE!).

 

there are endless male challenges that women will never understand because they are not a man. there are also endless female challenges and men will never understand because they are not a women. as far as the original question i think its even.

although if this thread becomes a pain question. mainly due to that fact that child birth is always brought up. i personally believe men have this won. i would rather give birth a dozen times than go through some of the shit my fellow brothers have been through in there life just because they have a dick.

i love women and give them much respect for what they go through. although i see many threads and have heard the same subject brought up about men trying to be tough and protect, and how its funny that we act like we tough shit to impress someone. i tell you want. i have seen and been in situations where men get the fucking shit beat out of them, because they are men, and women are a scape goat. im not saying its always like this. still though, the whole men protect thing. that job is very fucking hard, and its something we have to deal with in everyday life. and it lasts a lot fucking longer than labor and giving birth.

i dont have the words right now to explain what i would like to say, but the job of protecting there significant other or whoever it may be. i really dont know how to describe how much of a LIFE job that really is. i dont want to write a report because you're not a man and dont have a fucking clue what "protect" means in our eyes.

again if this becomes a pain thread. men have it in the bag.

 

ah. lets not make it political this time.

hair styling. men's hairstyles frequently baffle me.

 

Are you talking about that whole "HEY, my slut of a girlfriend seduced you, thus I will beat you up, but not her" thing? Because, as a homo, I totes don't get that.

 

as for the 'labor' aspect - passing a bladder/kidney stone

psychologically- being expected to always be the stable, secure imperturbable rock, to always be strong, and always have things handled. To be able to protect those that depend on you, while asking for next to nothing in return, to be expected to be a god made flesh, and being shamed when you're human enough to fail.

Men are expected to be white knights, heroes, protectors and guardians.

 

I can tell you one thing. God blessed me with 2 wonderful little girls probably understanding that I would drive a son way too hard. Sorry folks but it's the truth. i believe men have more societal challenges than women do. probably self imposed. I just believe women are free to be whatever but men are bound by some code to be this or that.
Might just be in my own head though but it seems to be pretty common with folks I know

 

especially the whole 'if you're not accepted by a woman and in a relationship, you're not any sort of man at all.'

 

i think we all run the risk of moving into a "if i haven't experienced it, it must not be happening" mentality. we have some bizzarre crap that as a species we inflict upon the sexes.

 

boxer shorts and pants for guys?
for women we have bras? thongs? shaving? tampons?

we do unfriendly things to both sexes, and that's not even covering the psychological shit.

 

Two words: Erectile Dysfunction.

 

Just shifting away from the purely physiological, I think men can feel isolated and unable to cope with the expectations that are lumped upon. I feel like, as a society, we have a far better idea of what women are supposed to do with their lives, and if they do something different it's fine. A woman who chooses to focus on her career is seen as strong. A man is just seen as incapable of balancing work and family. It's odd to me. And if you don't have/want a family, you're seen as even weirder, whereas again, if a woman chooses not to have a family, it's seen as a bold choice.

I guess there's places where that's not the case, but certainly I feel that there's a pressure to make something of your life, coupled with a strict but undetermined blueprint of what the should involve, which doesn't affect women in the same way.

 

Oh absolutely. As I said, men are expected to be white knights and heroes...we're supposed to work jobs that we hate, balance work and life, we're supposed to want sons, be patriotic and go off to war, we're not supposed to be one whit less than perfectly emotionally controlled, but we're also perceived to be bumbling and stupid.

what gives?

 

one word "anorgasma"

and two words "no foreplay."

and where's my money, bitch?!! i swear, i'm taking you off the VIP list.

 

You forgot that we're also expected to take anyone not only suggesting but practically insisting that we're bumbling workshy incompetent purely because of our gender with good humour (but also not appear to be walk overs or otherwise "not real men"), rather than get all uppity at any criticism unfair or otherwise and insist that it's because we have tits isn't it?

Also we have to actually deal with confrontational or difficult situations that may require us to admit our own faults or justify bad decisions we have made, without the fallback/safety net of running out of the room crying.

Also also, if we want sympathy, we've basically got to have all of our limbs ripped off by ninjas in a situation that is objectively not our own fault, rather than just milk some abortion we had, like, probably 10 years ago now for all it's worth.

What else? Oh, girls hitting you. Like, not "domestic violence" level hitting you, but "playfully" hitting you, randomly, out of the blue, because they think it's cute. It's cute if the girl weighs about three stone, but otherwise it's just fucking annoying, but if you even flinch you're a crybaby and/or an asshole.

I dunno, maybe I just know shit women.

 

Isn't there also a thing called "vaginismus", where the vagina basically closes tight shut for no reason?

To be fair, that's probably true for most guys too. Generally speaking, as soon as sex gets into the domain of one person doing something solely to guilt the other into returning the favour, it's an unsalvageable pile of shit, but the number of times I've met chicks who think that because they sucked dick for a bit that entitles them to getting eaten out... I mean, it's just a really shit way to think about sex generally, isn't it?

 

i think this is a good example of what i was saying, "if it doesn't happen to me, it's not happening." my best friend (besides my man) has a distinct disdain for me being a stay at home mom. when my daughter drew a picture for school that said "i want to be a mom like a mommy" instead of "i want to be a astronaut or whatever" the looks and latent disrespect was very strong. stay at home moms are becoming a pretty harsh group because we are treated like shit by the working mothers of the world. i have to tell you, it'd probably be a lot easier for me to let someone else raise my kids for me while i work, but i didn't have kids just to hand them to someone else.

and that statement right there, that judgement i made, is just as hurtful to working mothers everywhere. i don't think working mothers are necessarily fucking up their kids lives. my mom worked when she was raising me and my older brothers, she didn't work when she was raising my little bro and sis. however, she was going through menopause and health problems when she was raising them. so far as i can tell, there were not a lot more benefits. we were all loved.

and i'm sorry that the only example i have of this is from the female perspective, but it did seem appropriate. we inflict loads of stupid expectations on either sex. a woman in sports is a dyke, a woman not in sports is a princess. a stay at home mom is a weak reflection of women's abilities, a working mom (or even one who chooses not to have children) is a negligent parent or mangina in a pant suit. it's not fair, and it's not right.

i would think, for the men, that eventually you just have to quit giving a shit and being so sensitive about it and do your thing. i know it's hard, but life isn't fair. i'd say the same to any woman crying over her burned bra that it wasn't what she expected. of course not. people are still people.

 

i would think so. that's a lotta bullshit right there.

 

absolutely.

 

Self, do you live around here? that sounds like most females (I refuse to insult a woman) around here behave.

 

Well it's not right, but at the same time it's kinda reassuring that you guys are getting a shit ride of it as well. For a while it seemed like women were getting a postfeminist pat on the back and a "well done" every time they farted. It's unreasonable to expect people to be perfect, but if it has to happen I'm glad it's happening to everyone, if only because we might eventually decide en masse that "hang on... why do any of us give a fuck what they think?"

It's shit that these expectations are raised. Men are getting lumbered with a lot of the baggage that used to be dumped on women, possibly in the name of equality or something, when really, if you want equality, neither gender should have to deal with it, rather than both of them. It's stupid shit like the beauty industry homing in on us, and it's so fucking stupid but it's probably the only way to get the influential corporate types on board with the whole equality thing. If they've been selling shit that no-one needs to women for 50 years, they're not going to give it up, so you have to get them to sell the same or similar shit to the dudes as well. That way it's equally shit.

I don't know though. The thread's about stuff that's unique to men. So what if there's a "female equivalent"?

That's kinda part of it, I think. A lot of what pisses guys off is the equivalent of "white guilt" being used on them. Any problem you have, anything that makes you feel shit, is as nothing compared to a woman's pain, etc. If your emotions aren't worse and more justified, then you're not allowed to have them. Or something. I dunno. I don't like that idea that guys have to have "legitimate" issues to get any sympathy. Again, ideally, we'd all shut up and stop whining when we've totally brought stuff on ourselves or whatever. But I don't see women ever changing, so I feel like dudes should be cut more slack to compensate.

What, men can get free sympathy whenever they want now?